I don't remember right now who got the idea first, Leo or me, but we both had it at similarly the same time -- Leo might've been first, with my poor excuse of a memory I just don't know, but:

Design docs on this level were very limited: they just said you'll be fighting Iris there in order to win her loyalty. It has been decided that, to implement some gameplay into the levels, a more surreal take will be chosen and instead of a simple deathmatch, a series of challenges in four increasingly bizarre environments would take place, with the fight versus Iris awaiting you at the end of that road.

We also followed the spirit of the original designers, rather than blindly following the design document -- it was Leo's idea to include a section of the Unreal95 alpha within E1L3 (as seen on the bottom left screenshot), since it was John Anderson's. We know for certain that E1L6, a later map contains an entire large section of an otherwise unleaked 96-era level by John. If he reused this content, making it fitting into the whole piece, we figured the same would work here. Essentially, E1L3 as it stands now, consists of:

Downloaded and had a quick go at it (227i). Finished the first map (or the first 2, can't remember whether the total change of environment is the end of the first or the second map).

First impression: very well done landscape, a bit rough (with a small invisible edge of a mountainwall which catches your clothes) but totally convincing (except for the bottom of the waterfall). A couple of surprises keep you on your toes. Most certainly worth the download.If this standard is kept up, it's going to be really good.More next week (no more time before thursday).

Finished on Godlike/115% Speed. This owns.Loved the Nexus part but I just like out-of-this-world stuff. Especially the area with all the super alpha monsters. Difficulty gets pretty rough at times but nothing to rage at.

The Quadshot is fucking amazing. I'd love to see this version of the gun replacing the Minigun.

Okay, played it through. I must admit that the geometry is not at it's best. Well, these maps were supposed to be for PSX anyway, and I can understand that. However, will you try to make these maps look like maps from PC version, or just keep them as they are? At least do something about texture alignment and sky panning speed in the open areas. But the Vortex Rikers part is neat in the original form.

Aand that whole thing about Iris. Where the hell did she come from suddenly? I just took this AI thingie from the Rikers and stepped onto the telepad that brought me into a weird realm. This screwed my mind, it was just like the main character was on some heavy-duty drugs. This part was literally Unreal!!

QuadShot? It's almost the same as in 7 Bullets, sans manual reloading. It still packs a punch though.

Finished maps won't have their geometry modified to stay true to their original form, however there are some spots with added details. Other spots are changed due to optimization. Unfinished maps have, of course, complete new geometry but at the same detail level.

My little bro is playing it... He loves the crash at the beggining! 1 (or more) of the Iris maps (the one when you fight many of hers) + the 2 DM maps elevators are pushing the Nali Fruit (which looks weird)

There is already a different version in the pack as a DM map, in fact that's the original texturing one as done by me/dustin and Rubie (who made a mess out of a lot of things before he left but I thought the bizarre theme with changes can stay for the dm version).

This, more serious version, however stays purely as the SP map.

This is actually all based on a certain alpha version of DM Rankin by Hourences, as it appeared in UT2004. Here it's a proper map in SP, connecting together sections of the recovered psx/steele dawn map.